Olney High takes second at UIL regionals, will send 32 students to state

Olney High School UIL students finished as the Overall Sweepstakes Regional Runner-Up at the regional meet held the weekend of April 21-22 at Grayson College in Denison.

Competing against 51 teams, Olney students scored 225 points, only 44 points behind first place Lindsay, and 33 points ahead of third place Muenster.

Out of the 33 Olney students that went to regional, 10 will advance to the 2023 UIL Academic and Speech State Meet in Austin May 16-18. These students make up the first place teams of Calculator Applications, Computer Science, and Mathematics. The second place Number Sense team will go to state as a wildcard. Two students will advance as individuals in Literary Criticism and Informative Speaking.

“Olney High is moving in the right direction in the field of academics. Coaches and students alike should be proud to be a Cub,” UIL coordinator Sherry Livingston said.

The Calculator Applications team consisted of Jennifer Martinez, Angel Alvarado, Aidyn Bitner, Katelynn Bailey, and Jeffry Flores. Martinez placed fifth overall; Alvarado placed fourth; Bitner placed sixth; Bailey placed third and qualified for state, and Flores placed eighth.

The Computer Science team consisted of Bitner, Alvarado, Caleb Johnson, and Liher Del Rio Martinez. Bitner placed second and qualified for state; Alvarado placed ninth overall; Liher Del Rio Martinez placed 10th, and Johnson placed 12th.

The Mathematics team consisted of Alvarado, Martinez, Bitner, and Thanyathon Tueanwiradet. Martinez placed second overall and qualified for state; Tueanwiradet placed third and qualified for state; Alvarado placed fourth, and Bitner placed sixth.

The Number Sense team, which will advance as a wildcard, consisted of Bitner, Bailey, Alvarado, and Peyton Valdez. Bailey placed third and qualified for state; Bitner placed fifth; Alvarado placed 11th, and Valdez placed 14th.

Richard Walp placed second in Literary Criticism and will go to state as an individual. In Informative Speaking, Adelade Edgington placed first and qualified for state.

Here are the results of the other students who competed at regional, several of whom will be state alternates.

In Headline Writing, Richard Walp placed fourth and is a state alternate.

The Speech team placed third out of 13 teams. In Informative Speaking, Joselyn Marquez placed fourth and is a state alternate, and Morgan Simmons placed fifth and is a state alternate.

The Accounting team placed fourth, and consisted of Cooper Lane, seventh place; Florivonna Hernandez, 16th place; Bladimir Ramirez, 15th place, and Nataley Kelly, 29th place.

The Current Issues team placed second, and consisted of Ellie Hinson, who placed fourth and will be a state alternate; Moira Watkins, ninth place; Hallie Cuba, 35th place, and Ben Norris, 40th place.

The Literary Criticism team placed second, and consisted of Jennifer Martinez, sixth place; Aidyn Bitner, 19th place, and Seth Nash, 29th place.

The Science team placed second place, and consisted of Peyton Valdez, who placed seventh overall and second in Biology; Martinez, 24th place; Alvarado, 30th place, and Liher Del Rio Martinez, 42nd place.

The Social Studies team placed fifth, and consisted of Allison House, 11th place; Justin Simmons, 14th place; Jacob Hernandez, 30th place, and Peyton Elliott, 37th place.

The Spelling team placed fourth, and consisted of Lindsy Piedra, seventh place; Ben Norris, 13th place; Brianna Galindo, 18th place, and Richard Walp, 20th place.

In LD Debate, Lauren Pham placed seventh, and Joselyn Marquez placed 15th.

Other students who competed but did not place in Regional events include: Adelade Edgington in Prose, Allie Barrington in Poetry, Sawyer Edgington and Rodolfo Arce in Persuasive Speaking, and Ryan Conder in News Writing.